Sore wa Haru no Owari ni – Nojiri Guri

Haru Amakawa, after working for two years, met Seoji Nakahara, a senior employee, on his first day at a new company. Until then, Amakawa, who had never been particularly moved by anything, learned the meaning of love for the first time. “Just looking at him makes me feel like I’m in pain…” Nakahara asks a mazed Amakawa to kiss him and offers to play. Amakawa is chasing and Nakahara is treating. What is the outcome of the battle between the two?

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It Is At The End of Spring tackles an interesting theme. It is about a young salaryman, Amakawa, who is mostly apathetic about things. He’s not angsting about it. He even feels peaceful. 

That peace was shaken when he felt attraction towards an older coworker, Nakahara, who in turn, recognized a kindred apathetic soul. Nakahara doesn’t know what to do with it, but being a tease, decides to play with the younger man.

I really liked the artwork. The characters are drawn softly, almost like unfinished sketches, giving the manga a warm fluffy vibe. But only visually because the execution left me cold.

Maybe I don’t entirely understand what the mangaka is trying to convey, but I felt their issue was a non-issue. I don’t see why there should be a problem with the relationship since both are consenting adults. There is some angsting over the age gap by Nakahara, but their age difference is not that big. He’s in his mid-30s, and Amakawa is in his early 20s.

There’s hot/cold treatment from Nakahara, but the dork was also quick to jump in bed with Amakawa. All in all, the conflict was only added so there would be drama. Otherwise, this would have been a hell of a lot short and sweet

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